18.2-43 - Apprehension and prosecution of participants in lynching.
§ 18.2-43. Apprehension and prosecution of participants in lynching.
The attorney for the Commonwealth of any county or city in which a lynchingmay occur shall promptly and diligently endeavor to ascertain the identity ofthe persons who in any way participated therein, or who composed the mobwhich perpetrated the same, and have them apprehended, and shall promptlyproceed with the prosecution of any and all persons so found; and to the endthat such offenders may not escape proper punishment, such attorney for theCommonwealth may be assisted in all such endeavors and prosecutions by theAttorney General, or other prosecutors designated by the Governor for thepurpose; and the Governor may have full authority to spend such sums as hemay deem necessary for the purpose of seeking out the identity, andapprehending the members of such mob.
(Code 1950, § 18.1-32; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15.)